DuPont

Seven companies have been named in a lawsuit related to the contamination of a West Virginia city’s water supply from firefighting foam.

The lawsuit filed by Charles Town attorney Stephen Skinner seeks damages for exposing Martinsburg residents to chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs. Among the defendants in the lawsuit filed last month in federal court were 3M Co., DuPont Co. and Chemours.

Executives from three major chemical companies — DuPont de Nemours, Inc., The Chemours Company and The 3M Company — testified for the first time to Congress about widespread contamination from the group of nonstick, fluorinated chemicals broadly called PFAS.

The so-called “forever chemicals” persist in the environment, are linked to ill health effects, and have been found in numerous water systems in the Ohio Valley.

The DuPont Co. massively downplayed the cost of environmental liabilities with which Chemours would be saddled when DuPont spun off its former performance chemicals unit in 2015, according to a lawsuit unsealed Friday.

The maximum liability exposure figures that DuPont certified prior to the spinoff have proven to be “systematically and spectacularly wrong,” Chemours alleges.

On April 1, 1926, the DuPont plant at Belle produced North America’s first ammonia made from a high-pressure process. A few years before, chemical giant E. I. DuPont had decided to build an ammonia plant, using technology developed by Germany during World War I. The technology consisted of giant mechanical compressors, called ‘‘hypers,’’ which generated up to 15,000 pounds of pressure per square inch. In 1925, DuPont started construction of its new hyper-pressure plant in the eastern Kanawha County town of Belle.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said today the agency is prepared to take action to limit exposure of widely-used toxic chemicals used to make non-stick items.

PFAS is a category of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, C8, GenX, and many other chemicals with stain resistant, non-stick and waterproof properties. Several communities across the Ohio Valley have detected PFAS chemicals in drinking water and a few have significant contamination.

Critics say DuPont has spent too little on testing Ohio and West Virginia residents for contamination from a chemical used to make Teflon, while paying millions to a lawyer overseeing the testing program.

The Columbus Dispatch reports DuPont spent about $860,000 on testing over a 2 ½-year period for contamination from the chemical used to make Teflon at its Washington Works plant, along the Ohio River.

A federal court in Ohio delivered a verdict this week awarding $10.5 million in punitive damages to a man with testicular cancer who, for years, was exposed through drinking water to the toxic chemicals DuPont used to make Teflon.

An Ohio man who says he got testicular cancer because of a chemical used to make Teflon is the latest plaintiff to have his case against DuPont Co. considered by a jury in federal court.

The Columbus Dispatch reports jurors in Columbus are deliberating after a four-week trial in the case of a Washington County resident, Kenneth Vigneron Sr. It's among 3,000 lawsuits against DuPont by Ohio and West Virginia residents.

For more than half a century along the Ohio River, the chemical company DuPont provided jobs for thousands of people. One chemical they produced is PFOA, commonly known as C8. It was a remarkably useful compound, used in “Teflon” non-stick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics, and even in some food wrappers.

The City of Parkersburg will provide water to some parts of Vienna in response to high levels of a carcinogenic chemical in the town’s drinking water.

The Parkersburg Utility Board’s Assistant Manager Eric Bumgardner says the lower-third of Vienna, also known as the town’s commercial district, had its water switched over to Parkersburg’s water supply Wednesday.

Dow Chemical and DuPont announced plans to merge late last year in a deal worth about $130 billion dollars. Both companies have long histories in West Virginia, where they’ve been top employers in the so-called “chemical valley.” They used to compete, but now they are allies in what some West Virginians say feels like the continued death of the Industrial Age in the region.

On this West Virginia Morning, we look closely at a situation that legislation approved by West Virginia lawmakers could exaggerate by removing barriers to mergers for hospitals and other large companies.

On this West Virginia morning we hear about two big mergers with a presence in the state and how they might affect the area. First, Glynis Board takes a look at the Dow-Dupont merger and it's potential impact on the community of Washington, West Vrginia. Also, Appalachia Health News’ Kara Lofton talks with Marketplace’s Dan Gorenstein and Leemore Dafny, director of Health Enterprise Management at Northwestern University about Cabell-Huntington Hospital's acquisition of St. Mary's.

A federal judge has rejected a motion arguing that evidence doesn't support punitive damages for an Ohio woman who says she got cancer after drinking water contaminated by a chemical discharged from a DuPont plant.

The case might help settle thousands of similar lawsuits about the chemical giant's dumping of C8 into local drinking water.

Plaintiff Clara Bartlett alleges Delaware-based DuPont didn't inform the public but knew potential risks posed by C8 that was deposited into the Ohio River by a plant near Parkersburg, West Virginia.

A federal judge has refused to dismiss one of two test cases that could potentially help settle thousands of similar lawsuits against chemical giant DuPont.

The complaint by an Ohio woman alleges the Delaware-based company knew the potentially dangerous risks posed by a chemical its plant near Parkersburg, West Virginia, had been depositing into the Ohio River, but declined to inform the public.

“The Teflon Toxin” is the title of a series of three investigative reports that surfaced this month. The series examines the 70-year history of DuPont and the no-stick chemical called C8 used to coat Teflon pans and other products.

A decade ago it came to light that DuPont contaminated water sources in West Virginia and Ohio with the chemical, and soon after that the chemical is toxic. The use of the C8 was phased out of production this year at DuPont’s Washington Works plant just outside Parkersburg. But this September, the first of about 3,500 personal injury claims is coming to trial.

Mid-Ohio Valley residents launched a campaign this week in an effort to pressure DuPont, a chemical company, into complying with a 2005 settlement agreement and to educate community members on how they can monitor their health.

Nine Ohio and West Virginia residents who have cancer and other diseases have filed federal lawsuits this month against chemical giant DuPont, alleging the company knowingly contaminated drinking-water supplies with a chemical used by one of its plants.